


Here to Stay

by softestpunk



Category: The Expanse (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, I guess this is an AU, M/M, if no one will hug Amos I will do it myself, you can definitely read this as gen, you gotta squint for the shipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 21:01:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20748683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softestpunk/pseuds/softestpunk
Summary: AU in which Amos goes off to find a home with his best friend in the whole wide world.





	Here to Stay

**Author's Note:**

> for the trope bingo square: happy ending

The air on Ganymede station smelled different to the recycled air elsewhere. Sweeter.

Like the air nearest the Prax panels on the Roci.

Amos knew, because he was currently taking very, _very_ deep breaths.

“Hey.” Alex’s shoulder brushed against Amos’ as he came to a stop beside him. “Still time to get back on board if you’re gettin’ cold feet.”

“’m fine,” Amos mumbled, shifting his weight between his feet.

He wasn’t fine.

He’d come within a couple of microns of death more times than he could count, but this? This was…

It was a lot. No getting around it.

“What if he doesn’t want me here?” Amos asked. So much for _fine_.

“He does,” Alex said. “’side from anything else, you’re the best damned mechanic I know. This place needs you. He cares about this place. And God help him, he cares about _you_.”

Heat crept up the back of Amos’ neck. Yeah. Being cared about was _weird_, and the more people did it the weirder it got. He wasn’t sure he was ever getting used to that.

“We all do,” Alex added, as though he’d read Amos’ thoughts and wanted to make him even more uncomfortable than he already was.

Knowing Alex? Wasn’t impossible.

“You wanna come back, Roci’s only a shout away. Always. No one’s takin’ your bunk. Not ever. But…”

“I gotta do this,” Amos said, something behind his belly button tightening. Still getting the hang of the whole _decisions_ thing.

“You gotta do this,” Alex agreed, clapping Amos on the shoulder. “Go. They’re waiting for you.”

And with that, Alex walked away, and Amos was alone.

Ganymede at least wasn’t as crowded as someplace like Ceres or even Tycho, just a few essential personnel while the rebuilding efforts were ongoing.

Lucky for Amos, he qualified as essential. A mechanic who wasn’t afraid to get in a vac suit and get his hands dirty was a valuable resource, apparently.

Amos wasn’t sure anyone’d ever thought of him as a valuable resource before. Maybe the crew of the Roci. But this…

This was different. This was a chance to build something.

With someone.

Someone he…

Felt very strongly about. Missed like hell, for a start.

He passed his own assigned quarters without a second glance, heading further down the hall to a number he’d had memorised ever since he’d first heard it.

Amos knocked on the door, and then wondered if that was too aggressive. Maybe he should’ve tried the communications panel.

Maybe they weren’t in.

What the hell time was it on Ganymede? The lights were all still on, but maybe that didn’t mean a damned thing. Research wasn’t exactly Amos’ strongest skill, so he hadn’t bothered.

He’d figured…

Well, he’d figured he was coming to a friend. Someone who didn’t mind helping him out.

The door opened with no one on the other side of it, leaving Amos blinking into the empty space in front of him.

“Amos?” a tiny, familiar voice piped up from somewhere around his waist.

Mei. Staring up at him like he was the coolest thing she’d ever seen.

Amos got as far as taking a breath to say hello when Prax appeared behind her.

“Amos?” he asked.

Giving him exactly the same look.

Something in the centre of Amos’ ribcage took a nosedive, but then it kinda sprouted wings and took off a second later.

“Uh.”

Words. There were probably some words he needed to say right about now.

“Hi?”

That could have been one of them. Maybe.

It was hard to tell past the rushing of blood in his ears.

And then suddenly Prax’s arms were wrapped around him, and so were Mei’s, and he figured that was probably enough.

“Hi,” Prax said, backing off just far enough to look Amos in the eyes.

Not a whole lot of people were brave enough to do that.

Something deeper in the Meng’s quarters beeped. Prax’s eyes widened.

“I gotta… come inside. Come in.”

Amos opened his mouth to say something—maybe that he needed to go dump his bag in his quarters, or that he didn’t want to be in the way, or something like that. But then a tiny hand curled around his, tugging him inside, and whatever it was died on his tongue.

“I’m interrupting dinner,” Amos said as Mei lead him into the kitchen—compact, neat, and full of greenery marked with the names of herbs he’d only ever seen freeze-dried.

He’d never thought to imagine Prax’s kitchen before, but yeah. This was what it would’ve looked like.

This was what it _did_ look like.

And suddenly Amos was standing in the middle of someone else’s life, someone he’d come here to find, and it was too much. Too much to ask, too much to handle, how could he have been so stupid? He didn’t belong here on this little rock in the middle of nowhere filled with people he’d never met who probably wouldn’t like him and one single friend, and—

“I was gonna say you were just in time,” Prax said, soft, earnest, looking at him like he was happy to see him.

And all at once it was okay. Everything else was okay.

Amos let out a breath he didn’t remember taking, and looked down to see Mei’s fingers still curled firmly around three of his. Holding on tight.

“Are you here to stay this time?” she asked, eyes wide and pleading.

The beeping stopped.

“Yeah,” Amos said, throat tight. “Yeah. Here to stay.”


End file.
